The Ballad of Asian & Other Asian
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day forty-nine: "the ballad of" 3/3: Tina and Mike from Ballad


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle. Now entering the seventh through ninth weeks, here comes cycle 3 of my gleekathon! _

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**"The Ballad of Asian and Other Asian"  
Tina & Mike**

The journey of their partnership had been less than smooth. It took a couple of days for them to even manage to get together. And when they did, they were interrupted as Mercedes called with the latest news in 'babygate.' When she returned, Mike had to go.

The next morning, Tina took it upon herself to catch Mike and get this ballad assignment under way. She headed out to the bleachers overlooking the football field. The team was practicing on one end, and the Cheerios were grouped up on the other side, as Coaches Sylvester and Tanaka were having a fierce war of words, over a 'mix up' of schedules for use of the football field.

Tina looked for Mike among the players. When she spotted him, she waved her arms, trying to draw his attention. She only managed to get the Cheerios to look over, giggling at her. Brittany gave a hearty wave before Santana pulled her arm down with a shake of the head. Finally, Finn saw her waving, and he signalled for Mike to look back. When he did, she waved him over. He looked to the duelling coaches – Tanaka had just touched Sylvester's shoulder and she had murder in her eyes… it would be a while. So he jogged to the bleachers, craning his neck to see Tina.

"We have to do this ballad thing soon. Can we meet up after practice?" she asked, leaning over the railing.

"Yeah, sure," he nodded. "But I have to get my brother from school. You could come over," he suggested. She nodded. "Okay, just wait here if you want," he indicated the bleachers. She nodded again.

"Chang!" a roar from the field roused the pair as they looked up at once. Coach Tanaka was still livid from the argument, pacing the field as he looked to Mike.

"Have to go," he nodded back.

Tina sat in the bleachers, waiting on Mike. Never to waste time, knowing how the time had been an issue, she got to song searching. When practice let out, Mike quickly went into the locker room to shower before getting Tina. They went to his car and headed to his little brother's school, then home once they had him. Mike made him a snack, for Tina and himself as well, before they headed into his basement.

"Any ideas?" he asked over his shoulder.

"No… you?"

"Well, let's see… 'That's not my name' isn't a ballad, is it?" She smirked, and he chuckled. "Well it would have worked otherwise," he thought of the nickname he'd somehow gotten.

"I'm not even sure how I could do a ballad, I mean…" Tina gestured.

"I know," he nodded. "Hey, we can always claim we're related somehow and it makes it weird. I doubt they'd question it." She shrugged with a laugh.

"Well we should still do something."

"It has to be telling of a part of us, right? To express something that needs saying…" Tina nodded. "Well it doesn't have to be from me to you and the other way around. It could be…us expressing… but to the rest of them, about Glee Club…"

"I like it," she smiled. "How do we do it though?" Mike looked to wander off in thought.

"That I don't know…" he admitted. "Computer?" he offered, nodding to the laptop sitting nearby.

"Got it," she went to sit and start looking. Mike sat with her, helping in the search through his iPod. "How's Matt?" she asked in passing after a while.

"Jumpy," Mike nodded. "He used to like spiders," he shook his head. Tina laughed, and he did too, looking to her screen in the process. "Wait," he sat up, putting his iPod aside.

"What?" Tina asked, looking back to the screen to see what he'd seen.

"There," he pointed. "Click on that." Tina did so and a song began to play through the laptop speakers. She smiled.

"You're right… I think it'll be good. "We should do it," she nodded. "With one small change," she grinned.

"Okay, let's see," he stood, offering his hand to help get her up.

They worked out the number over the next little while before they finally felt they were ready for a test run. Mike's brother, having been drawn in by curiosity and the music, was their audience, sitting in the stairs.

As the song began, each of the two had their turn at singing lead, while the other would dance and backup. Tina ( ) was first.

"_Calling out around the world / Are you ready for a brand new beat? / Summer's here and the time is right / For dancing in the street / They're dancing in Chicago (__ / __dancing in the street) / Down in New Orleans (__ / __dancing in the street) / In Lima, Ohio (__ / __dancing in the street)."_

"_All we need is music (__ / __sweet music) / Sweet music (__ / __sweet music) / There'll be music everywhere (__ / __everywhere) / There'll be swinging and swaying / And records playing / And dancing in the street."_

As her part ended, she rotated positions with Mike ( ). Of the two of them, his dancing skills did exceed hers, but she wasn't struggling on her own either.

"_Oh, it doesn't matter what you wear / Just as long as you are there / So, come on, every guy, grab a girl / Everywhere around the world / There'll be dancing / They're dancing in the street / (__ / __dancing in the street)."_

"_This is an invitation across the nation / A chance for folks to meet / There'll be laughing, singing, and music swinging / And dancing in the street."_

Following Mike's solo section, the two of them joined up side by side for their song and dance, sharing back and forth for a beat before going along in unison.

"_Philadelphia, PA (__ / __dancing in the street)."_

"_Baltimore and DC now (__ / __dancing in the street)."_

"_Can't forget the motor City (dancing in the street)."_

"_All we need is music (sweet music) / Sweet music (sweet music) / There'll be music everywhere (everywhere) / There'll be swinging and swaying / And records playing / And dancing in the street."_

"_Oh, it doesn't matter what you wear / Just as long as you are there / So, come on, every guy, grab a girl / Everywhere around the world / They're dancing / They're dancing in the street / (dancing in the street)."_

Winding down to the end, they returned to alternating in the lyrics.

"_Way down in LA, every day, / They're dancing in the street / (__ / __dancing in the street)."_

"_Let's form a big storm live, get in time / With dancing in the street / (__ / __dancing in the street)."_

"_Across the ocean blue, me and you, / We're dancing in the street / (__ / __dancing in the street)."_

Done with the number, the out-of-breath duo was granted applause from their audience. The two shared a nod, pleased with their work.

"So worth the wait," Mike deemed, and Tina smiled in agreement.

THE END


End file.
